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Thursday 28th June – windsurf ***** The Dip, Felixstowe. Walk *** River Stour at Dedham, sunny and hot :)

F2 Ride 282 with Tushingham Lightning 7.0

26.04 knot max., 24.33 knot ave., 14.92 knot hour, 21.56 knot mile, 67.40 km., 16.10 knot alpha :(

After yesterdays epic 68 km. and with days of wind forecast I was in no hurry to head to The Dip. So, after breakfast and exercises in the sunny garden Mag packed a picnic and we headed over to Great Tey in Essex to pick up a hardly used Tushingham Lightning 7.0 recently purchased on eBay, the sat-nav was playing up but we found it OK.Before leaving Felixstowe we tried to get Mags bike in the repair shop but they are full until August and we went to the Spray shop to get a quote to repair the many dents and scuffs in our poor old van. Then near Great Tey we passed the most beautiful field of blue flowers, the sail pick up went well and we drove back to Dedham and parked in the mill pool which was a tight fit as it was busy. We had our yummy salad in the van as it was very hot outside by the River Stour. Then we went for a walk around the mill pool and down the river to the wooden bridge, there were lots of walkers and people messing about on the river but it was unbearably hot so were pleased to get back to the van. There was a small delay on the A 12 with a broken down can, we filled up with diesel luckily the price has dropped a little but it was still nearly £100! Once home I hitched up the trailer and headed to The Dip and couldn’t get in as the toilet cleaning truck was parked on the entrance sloop and I didn’t want to risk hitting the van again! There were only a couple out including Chris Stephens on 6.6 so after parking on the grass verge I rigged my new 7m with the 282. A lot of the session I was fractionally under but had so much fun and it took me an hour to fall in, in fact it was one of my better gybing sessions with at least an 80% success rate:) I had a non- stop an and a half before coming in for a rest and a catch up. It is great to see The Dip carpark full with so many out enjoying the breezy, sunny conditions. Darren sailed up from the Manor again before joining us at The Dip. Nick Icke had a formula run to landguard and back which Paul Davis was out kitesurfing and going well as he has only just learnt! Nice to see speed buddy Peter Cutts out on the water and David Coles was flying with 7.8 on his slalom board. I had covered 16 n/miles and was a bit tired but couldn’t resist going out again as the conditions improved. As yesterday it was great fun beating up to kite beach before blasting broad down wind trying for a good mile but going fast was challenging as it got very big a mile and a half out to sea but I hardly dropped a gybe which makes things less tiring. Nice to see young Ed Swain out with his Dad joining us later and a big thankyou for sorting me out a harness hook after mine broke yesterday. With the wind now blowing until next Wednesday it’s a job to know what to do, perhaps I might try The Manor or Bradfield on the Stour for a change, a great time was had by all, I just can’t believe that the council are planning to take it away from us and put 18 beach huts there, we already have 900 :(

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Lovely afternoon at the dip